Method of enhancing rendering of a content item, client system and server system

ABSTRACT

A client system ( 200, 220 ) receives a content item. The user can mark the received content item as being of interest. In response to said marking, tracking means ( 204, 224 ) automatically provide identifying data for the marked content item to a remote server system ( 250 ). The server receives a portion of the content item from a client system ( 200, 220 ), processes the received portion to obtain an identifier for the content item, obtains further information on the content item using the identifier, and transmits the further information back to the client system ( 200, 220 ). The tracking means ( 204, 224 ) subsequently receive further information on the content item from the remote server system ( 250 ). An identifier for the content item can be used in an e-commerce system ( 160 ), for example by putting it on a shopping list ( 161 ) or to obtain a list of related items.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/933,845 filed Aug. 21, 2001, which in turn claims the prioritybenefit from International Patent Application No. PCT/EP01/09623 filedon Aug. 13, 2001, which in turn claims the priority benefit of EPApplication No. 00202947.8 filed on Aug. 23, 2000, the entire content ofeach application being incorporated herein by reference.

The invention relates to a method of enhancing rendering of a contentitem.

The invention further relates to a client system arranged for enhancedrendering of a content item.

The invention further relates to a server arranged for facilitatingenhanced rendering of a content item.

Electronic commerce provides unprecedented opportunities for consumersto browse, select and purchase products, and also provides opportunitiesfor alternative market and sales techniques. Conventionally, electroniccommerce requires a somewhat pro-active consumer role. The consumersearches the Internet for a particular product, selects a vendor andsubmits a request to purchase the item. Alternatively, a consumer visitsa website for information, perhaps with no intent to purchase anything,and is presented an advertisement for a product. Then the consumer“clicks” on the advertisement, decides whether to purchase the item, andthen submits the purchase request. In like manner, the consumer receivese-mail containing an advertisement, reviews the information, eitherdirectly or via an Internet link, decides whether to purchase theproduct, and then submits the purchase request. In each of thesescenarios, the consumer utilizes a bi-directional communications deviceto contemporaneously receive the information and submit the purchaserequest.

As is well known in the art of marketing and advertising, “impulseshopping” provides an opportunity for significant product revenue.Products are placed within easy reach while waiting in a cashier queue,“specials” are announced over loudspeaker systems in a department store,and so on. Television commercials often contain a notification of atelephone number to call to order a product being advertised, or toorder a copy of the program being broadcast at that time. This techniquehas been applied to e-commerce systems, for example by providing “clickhere to purchase” icons on webpages or e-mail advertisements. Theopportunities for impulse shopping, however, are limited to the specificenvironments or occasions that allow for such impulse buys, and, in thecase of e-commerce, typically require a contemporaneous bi-directionalcommunications link between the consumer and the product supplier.

Digital broadcasting systems will make a large amount of content itemsavailable to users. Current Internet-enabled content receiving systems,such as real-time audio receivers, allow a user to store an identifierfor a content item in a local database, to serve as a bookmark toretrieve the item later so it can be processed again. If the user likessuch a bookmarked item, he may want to shop for it at an e-commercesystem. The current procedure to do this is rather cumbersome. First,the user must find the identifier, and then go to the e-commerce systemand try to find it. He might have to look for it using differentidentifiers. Usually the identifier is a code such as an ISBN, which ishard to remember and easy to mistype. Further, the identifier may noteven be shown to the user or be present in his bookmark file. The userthen cannot know easily which item he is supposed to look for. By thetime he has found it, his impulse to buy it will long since have gone.

International Patent Application WO 97/21291 discloses a radiobroadcasting system which maintains a database with descriptions of thesongs and other audio content it broadcasts. The database is indexed toallow a listener to select a particular description, e.g. the songcurrently playing, the song last played, etcetera. When a listener hearsa particular piece of audio he likes, he can call a special telephonenumber to access the database, and use the touch tones on his telephoneto navigate the database, select descriptions and optionally buyselected songs.

European Patent Application EP-A-0 991 213 discloses a method and devicefor transmitting digital information, such as digital audio data,together with additional information. The additional information can befor instance the jacket photo, song titles, lyrics, the artist's name,and so on. The transmitting device disposes the additional in thedigital audio data itself by creating a number of data frames, andmultiplexing them with the frames that make up the digital audio data.The transmitting device receives the multiplexed data and audio frames,demultiplexes them and uses the additional information to enhance thepresentation of the digital audio data for the user, e.g. by presentingthe title and artist's name when playing the audio.

When the user likes the digital audio data, he can press a “bookmarkbutton”. Upon pressing this button, the receiving device stores anidentifier for the digital audio data, so that it can be recalled andplayed back again later. The method according to this European PatentApplication requires that the server system disposes the additionalinformation in the content before transmitting it to the client system.This increases the size of the content to be transmitted and requiresthat the server system knows in advance which additional information isdesired in the client system.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method according to thepreamble, which is more flexible than the known method.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a methodcomprising receiving a portion of the content item from a client system,processing the received portion to obtain an identifier for the contentitem, obtaining further information on the content item using theidentifier, and transmitting the further information to the clientsystem.

A client system can only play back the content item, but not presentextra information such as a photo of the artist, or the lyrics of thecontent item as well, unless this extra information is also present inthe content item. However, simply embedding the extra information is notvery flexible, since it is impossible to update or extend it at a latertime. By identifying the content item in a server system, retrieving theextra information from a database and sending back the extrainformation, the presentation of the content item can be enhanced in amore flexible manner. For example, updated photos or concert informationcan be provided in this manner.

It is an object of the invention to provide a client system according tothe preamble, which can operate in a more flexible manner than the knownclient system.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a client systemcomprising a receiver for receiving the content item, input means formarking the received content item, and tracking means for in response tosaid marking automatically providing identifying data for the markedcontent item to a remote server system, and for subsequently receivingfurther information on the content item from the remote server system.

The client system, which can be a system such as a television receiver,a set-top box, a radio or a general Internet-enabled computer, but alsoa mobile telephone or portable audio player, allows the user to markcontent items, such as television programs, music tracks or items shownin advertisements, as being of interest. Identifying data for thecontent item is then submitted to a remote server system, whichretrieves extra information such as title, artist or performer, photosand lyrics and transmits that extra information back to the clientsystem. The client system then displays the extra information asappropriate, which enhances the playback of the content item in the eyesof the user.

Since the extra information is not embedded in the content item itself,but rather retrieved from a remote server when the user asks for it, theextra information that is sent back can be changed over time. This makesthe client system more flexible than the known system.

In an embodiment the identifying data comprises a portion of the markedcontent item. In order to retrieve the extra information, the serversystem needs to identify the content item. If the client system cannotdetermine such an identifier itself, it can submit a portion of thecontent item in question to the server system. The server system willhave more processing power, so it should be able to e.g. detect awatermark in the portion or to make an analysis of the content toextract characteristic features from the portion. Using the watermarkinformation or the characteristic feature, the server system can performa lookup in a database and retrieve the extra information for thecontent item.

In a further embodiment the tracking means are arranged for detecting awatermark in the marked content item, and the identifying data comprisesan identifier obtained from the detected watermark. One way to supplythe identifier for the content item is to embed it in the content itemby means of a watermark. The tracking means then performs an analysis ofthe content item to detect the watermark and to extract the identifiertherefrom. The identifier can then be submitted to the server system.

In a further embodiment the further information comprises an identifierfor the content item, and the tracking means are arranged for providingthe identifier to an e-commerce system. Knowing that a user likes aparticular content item is of importance in an e-commerce system, as auser will be more inclined to buy such items, especially at the momenthe is confronted with them. For example, if the user hears a song anduses the input means to signal this, he will be more likely to respondpositively to an immediate offer to buy a record carrier with the song,such as a CD single, or a digital version of the song, for example inthe MP3 format, especially if it is offered at a discount.

Further, the user is now no longer required to actively seek out thecontent item, or information related to it, on the e-commerce systemwhen it is processed on the device. Rather, he simply marks it using theinput module, and he can recall the marked items for further processing,if any, when he is using the e-commerce system.

In a further embodiment the tracking means are arranged for adding theidentifier to a shopping list for a user of the e-commerce system. Anadvantage of this embodiment is that the user is minimally distractedfrom his listening or viewing experience with the content item, andstill has the content item available for shopping when he is ready to doso. He can, for example, go shopping the next morning, and then he willsee the marked content item or items on his shopping list and be moreinclined to buy it, as he will then recall that he found those items tobe of interest the previous day.

In a further embodiment the tracking means are arranged for receiving alist of items related to the marked content item from the e-commercesystem in response to providing the identifier to the e-commerce system.An advantage of this embodiment is that it allows for easy browsing ofthe related items. This way, the user is more inclined to shop fromthose related items, since they are, by association, also of interest tohim.

In a further embodiment the tracking means comprise a tracking bufferfor storing the identifier to facilitate automatically providing theidentifier to the e-commerce system when the client system is coupled toa transfer device. Portable client systems need not have a direct linkto an e-commerce system, yet they should still be able to function in amanner similar to the client system described above. To this end, aportable client system according to the invention can be provided with atracking buffer, which stores the identifiers until they can be providedto an e-commerce system. This could become possible, for example, whenthe portable client system comes in the vicinity of a base station ortransfer device, or if the user activates a transmit function. Theportable client system could be a handheld computer, which the user canconnect to a mobile telephone to establish a connection to a network.Once he is connected to the network, the portable client system canautomatically provide the identifier stored in the tracking buffer tothe e-commerce system.

It is an object of the invention to provide a server system according tothe preamble, which can operate in a more flexible manner than the knownclient system.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a server systemcomprising receiving means for receiving a portion of the content itemfrom a client system, processing means for processing the receivedportion to obtain an identifier for the content item, lookup means forobtaining further information on the content item using the identifier,and for transmitting the further information to the client system.

A client system can only play back the content item, but not presentextra information such as a photo of the artist, or the lyrics of thecontent item as well, unless this extra information is also present inthe content item. However, simply embedding the extra information is notvery flexible, since it is impossible to update or extend it at a latertime. By identifying the content item in a server system, retrieving theextra information from a database and sending back the extrainformation, the presentation of the content item can be enhanced in amore flexible manner. For example, updated photos or concert informationcan be provided in this manner.

In an embodiment the processing means are arranged for computing a hashvalue for the received portion of the content item, the identifiercomprising the computed hash value. The content item may not have anaccompanying identifier, or that identifier may have been lost beforethe content item arrived at the server system. In such a case, theserver system will have to calculate the identifier itself by doing ananalysis of the content item. The thusly computed hash value can be usedas an identifier to look up the extra information in a database.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from andelucidated with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement comprising a number of clientsystems and an e-commerce system; and

FIG. 2 schematically shows an arrangement comprising a number ofportable client systems, transfer devices and an e-commerce system.

Throughout the figures, same reference numerals indicate similar orcorresponding features. Some of the features indicated in the drawingsare typically implemented in software, and as such represent softwareentities, such as software modules or objects.

FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement comprising a first clientsystem 100, a second client system 130, and an e-commerce system 160.The systems 100, 130, 160 are connected using a network of some kind.This can be for example the Internet, or a cable network, a dial-upphone connection or a combination of networks.

The first client system 100 and the second client system 130 haverespective receivers 101, 131. These can be, for instance, an antenna topick up signals from the ether, or a connection to a cable network orthe Internet. Using these receivers 101, 131, the client systems 100,130 are able to receive content items such as television programs, radiobroadcasts, songs, pictures and so on, from a service provider. Thethusly-received content items can be rendered by respective renderingmodules 102, 132 and output using output modules 103, 133. The exact wayin which a content item is rendered depends on the type of client systemand the type of content. For instance, in a radio receiver, renderingcomprises generating audio signals and feeding it to loudspeakers. For atelevision receiver, rendering comprises generating audio and videosignals and feeding those to a display screen and loudspeakers. Forother types of content, a similar appropriate action must be taken.

Rendering may also include operations such as decrypting or descramblingthe signal, synchronizing audio and video signals and so on. The clientsystem 100 is shown by way of example as a radio receiver withloudspeakers 103, and the client system 130 is by way of example shownas a television receiver with display screen 133. The client system 130could also be a set-top box, with the rendering module 132 and screen133 located elsewhere.

The client systems 100, 130 also have respective input modules 104, 134,shown as buttons on the systems 100, 130 and on a remote control 135.These input modules 104, 134 are used for marking a content item,preferably the content item being rendered, as being of interest to auser. These input modules can be provided as buttons in hardware or insoftware, be drawn on a display such as display 133 or on a touch-screenarea, or be made available as menu items or icons in a user interfacefor the systems 100, 130. The input modules can also use audio or visualinput from the user, for example by detecting a voice control commandissued by the user, or detecting a gesture or action by the user, suchas raising his thumb towards the input module.

The button 134 can also be provided on a separate control device, suchas remote control 135. In that case, pressing the button on the separatecontrol device has the same effect as pressing the button on the clientsystem 130. The input module 104, 134 may be coupled to a confirmationmechanism, to guard against marking undesired content items. In thatcase, marking a content item comprises using the input module 104, 134and confirming the use through the confirmation mechanism.

The input modules 104, 134 are coupled to respective tracking modules106, 136. When a user uses the input module 104, 134 to mark an item asbeing of interest to him, the tracking module 106, 136 determines anidentifier for the marked content item.

Such an identifier is usually provided with the content item. It can be,for example, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other Uniform ContentIdentifier (URI) of the content item. It can also be a code, such as anISBN or another number identifying the content item at an e-commercesystem. The identifier can also simply be the title of the content item.

If the identifier supplied with the content item is usable outside itsoriginal context, then it can be used directly. The tracking module 106,136 could obtain an identifier using meta-information present with thecontent item. For example, the title of a movie is usually sufficient toidentify it. However, if the identifier is a code which is only used bythe provider who supplied the content item, then it needs to be mappedto another code first, which other code can then be used as theidentifier. The tracking module 106, 136 could request this other codefrom the provider, or map it itself.

If there is no identifier supplied with the content item, the trackingmodule 106, 136 needs to determine one itself. The tracking module 106,136 can calculate the identifier itself by doing an analysis of thecontent. For example, an electronic book may contain its ISBN on one ofthe first pages, and since the format of the ISBN is known, it could beextracted automatically by scanning the text for this known format. TheISBN can then be used as identifier. The identifier may be embedded as awatermark in audio and video content, and the tracking module 106, 136can analyze the content to detect the watermark and to obtain theidentifier.

Not all processing needs to take place in the client system 100, 130itself. For example, the television receiver 130 could be coupled to aset-top box or gateway to an in-home network to which said televisionreceiver 130 is connected could perform some or all of the processing.Such a distributed processing is especially advantageous when the clientsystem is a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, with only limitedprocessing capabilities. This will become apparent with reference toFIG. 2 below.

Once the tracking module 106, 136 has determined an identifier for thecontent item, it can obtain more information on the content item andpresent this to the user. For example, the title, artist or performer ofthe content item may be shown, or a webpage having more information onthe content item could be retrieved and rendered.

The tracking module 106, 136 can further add the identifier for themarked content item to a list, such as a bookmark list of list offavorite items. This way, the user can easily recall the marked contentitem at a later time.

The tracking module 106, 136 can further provide this identifier to thee-commerce system 160. Providing the identifier to the e-commerce system160 is preferably done nearly instantaneously, but if for example nopermanent connection with the e-commerce system 160 is available, thetracking module 106, 136 must wait until there is such a connection, andthen automatically provide the identifier to the e-commerce system 160.

In order to facilitate e-commerce, the user who marked the content itemshould also be identified in some way, for example using his login nameat the e-commerce system 160, or with some other identifier supplied tohim by the e-commerce system. If the e-commerce system 160 is availableover the World-Wide Web, then it could use a cookie to store anidentifier for the user at the client system or at some location wherethe tracking module 106, 136 can obtain it and send it along with theidentifier for the content item to the e-commerce system 160.

The identifier of the marked content item can be used in many ways inthe e-commerce system 160. To facilitate direct impulse buying, theidentifier can be regarded as a purchase request, and the content itemcan be shipped to the user without further action being necessary. Theidentifier can also be added to a shopping list 161 for the user, so hewill encounter it at his next time shopping, he will remember it fromwhen he marked it, and he can then order it. This shopping list 161 canhave the purpose of a wish list, where the user and his/her friends cansee items which the user would like to own, or a list with the contentsof a shopping cart with items that should be bought right away, and soon.

The shopping list 161 can be stored in a storage medium 162 at thee-commerce system, where it can be maintained by a list maintenancemodule 163. It can also be stored in the client system 100, 130, wherethe user can use it later when he visits the e-commerce system. Storingthe wish list or shopping list 161 locally has the advantage that theuser can use the same list at multiple e-commerce systems. However, notall systems have the storage space for storing the list 161.

The e-commerce system 160 could also generate a list of items related tothe marked content item. For example, when the user listens to a songand marks that, the list could comprise various performances of thatsong, or various formats in which the song can be bought. It could alsocomprise other songs by the same singer or band, or other songs on thesame theme. If the user marks a television program as being of interestto him, the list could comprise videos with previous episodes of themarked television program, or merchandise such as dolls representingcharacters in the television programs, books about the program orclothing with a logo for the program.

The e-commerce system 160 could also use a recommendation scheme todetermine items that are related to the marked content item. Such arecommendation scheme involves keeping track of which items people buy,and using this to suggest items to the user. For example, if many peoplewho mark a specific TV show as being of interest to them buy a book byone of the actors in the show, then the user who also marked the TV showas being of interest to him could be offered the book in question.Combinations of purchases can also be used as input: if many people buyitems X and Y together, and the user bought item X, then item Y shouldnow be on the list, since there is a good chance he might want to buyit. Of course, items X and Y should be related to the marked contentitem.

Thus, after the list has been generated, the client system 100, 130receives the list from the e-commerce system 160 in response to themarking of the content item. The client system 100, 130 can then presentit to the user. The list is preferably presented to the user in such away that shopping from it is made very easy. Presenting the list couldbe done as soon as it arrives, but it could also be delayed until a moreappropriate point in time, for example when a commercial break begins orwhen the song ends. The list could also be redirected to a system fromwhich the user can more comfortably buy the items, such as his computeror television, when he marks content items on a system such as aportable audio player.

The e-commerce system 160 can also use the identifier to createcustomized offers. For example, if a user marks several items by thesame artist as being of interest to him, the e-commerce system 160 couldoffer him a compilation CD of that artist at a discount. The e-commercesystem 160 thus learns from the user's marking of items which items theuser likes. This can be used to generate, for example, theabove-mentioned list of related items in a more reliable fashion.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an arrangement comprising a first portableclient system 200, a second client system 220, first and second basestations 210, 230 and the e-commerce system 160. The portable clientsystems 200,220 can be coupled to a transfer device 240 when informationneeds to be transferred to and from the portable client system. Thiscoupling can be using infrared or radio transmission, or by connectingthe portable client system to the transfer device using, for instance, aserial port. The transfer device 240 could be telephone base stations ordocking stations. The transfer device 240 and the e-commerce system 160are connected using a network of some kind. This can be for example theInternet, or a cable network, a dial-up phone connection or acombination of networks.

The portable client systems 200,220 have respective receivers 201,221,for instance an antenna to pick up signals from the ether, or a wirelessconnection to the Internet. Using these receivers 201, 221, the devices200,220 are able to receive content items such as television programs,radio broadcasts, songs, pictures and so on, from the base stations 210,230. The thusly-received content items can be rendered to the user byrespective rendering modules 202, 222.

As an illustration, the first portable client system 200 is shown as amobile telephone comprising antenna 201 and display screen 202, and thesecond portable client system 220 is shown as a portable audio playercomprising an antenna 221 and headphones 222. Other portable clientsystems, such as handheld computers, are similarly equipped. Most oftheir functionality is usually be realized in software. The firstportable client system 200 can, for example, show content items on itsdisplay 202 which are formatted using a standard such as the WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP).

The portable client systems 200, 220 have respective input modules 203,223 for marking the content item being rendered as being of interest toa user. If the portable client systems 200, 220 have a two-wayconnection with the transfer devices 210, 230, then using the inputdevices 203,223 can be handled in the same way as described above withreference to FIG. 1.

However, it is generally known that portable client systems have onlylimited processing power and battery life. As mentioned above, it thenmakes sense to distribute part of the processing to obtain an identifierto a remote server 250. This remote server can be operated by theprovider who supplied the content item, but this is not necessary.

The server system 250 comprises a receiving module 251, a processingmodule 252 and a lookup module 253. The receiving module 251 receives aportion of the content item from the client system 200. When theportable client system 200 is a mobile phone, the portion is preferablyreceived by establishing a telephone communication link between mobilephone 200 and server 250 and transferring the portion of the contentitem over the telephone link. For the end user, this means he only hasto call the telephone number of the server system 250 and hold up hismobile phone 200 so the microphone therein picks up an audio signal.This audio signal, which is a portion of the content item, is thentransmitted to the server system 250.

The processing module 252 processes the received portion to obtain anidentifier for the content item. The identifier is then supplied to alookup module 253, which obtains further information on the content itemfrom a database 260.

The identifier may be embedded as a watermark in audio and videocontent, and the processing module 252 can analyze the received portionto detect the watermark and to obtain the identifier. Alternatively, theprocessing module 252 computes a hash value for the received portion ofthe content item. The identifier then comprises the computed hash value.Using the identifier found in the watermark or the computed hash value,the lookup module 253 can search in the database 260 for the desiredfurther information.

The further information is subsequently transmitted back to the clientsystem 200. In the case the portable client system 200 is a mobiletelephone, this transmission can for example be done by sending an SMSmessage or a message over an instant messaging service with the furtherinformation. The further information can also be e-mailed to an e-mailaddress for the user of the portable client system 200. This way, moreextensive information can be supplied than can be handled by thepotentially limited capabilities of the portable client system 200. Theportable client system 200 could then, for example, receive an SMSmessage indicating the title and artist, and a statement that moreinformation was sent to the user's e-mail address.

Portable client systems may not have a two-way connection available, andif they do it may be expensive to use it, so the user will want to useit as little as possible, and in any case use it only when he chooses todo so. A portable radio, for example, can only receive radio signals butnot transmit them. A handheld computer can be connected to a mobilephone, but this requires manual intervention by the user. And the userwill, given the typical charges for mobile telephony, not do this everytime he marks a content item as being of interest to him.

Therefore, in another embodiment, the portable client systems 200,220are further provided with respective tracking buffers 204,224 forstoring in response to said marking an identifier for the marked contentitem to facilitate automatically providing the identifier to thee-commerce system 160.

To automatically provide the identifier to the e-commerce system 160,the portable client system 200, 220 must then be brought in contact withthe transfer device 240. This transfer device 240 has a first relay 241for receiving from the portable client system 200, 220 an identifier forthe marked content item. It also has a second relay 242 forautomatically providing the received identifier to the e-commerce system160. Using these relays 241,242, the identifier is provided from theportable client system 200,220 to the e-commerce system 160automatically and transparently to the user.

It is possible for the base stations 210, 230 to serve as a transferdevice as well. For example, if the portable client system 200 creates anetwork connection with the base station 210, then this connection willmost likely be two-way, and then the base station 210 can be used toprovide the identifier to the e-commerce system 160.

When a portable client system 200, 220 is used, it makes the most senseto maintain the wish list on the e-commerce system 160, since storagespace is often very limited on portable client systems. The transferdevice 240 can provide the identifier to the e-commerce system 160 forinclusion in the wish list or shopping list 161 of the user. It canalso, by means of the second relay 242, obtain a list of items relatedto the marked content item from the e-commerce system 160.

When the user next connects his portable client system 200, 220 to thetransfer device 240, the transfer device 240, by means of the firstrelay 241, then transfers the list to the portable client system 200,220. To this end, the transfer device 240 should keep the list in localstorage until the portable client system 200, 240 is connected. Thetransfer device 240 could also, if possible, directly obtain the listfrom the e-commerce system 160 and transfer it to the portable clientsystem 200, 220 immediately. In any case, the portable client system200, 220 then presents the list to the user.

The receiving systems 100, 130 could also make use of a transfer device.For example, when the receiving system is a television receiver, theset-top box or gateway to the in-home network to which said televisionreceiver is connected could then assume the role of the transfer device.When the television receiver is turned off before the list could beobtained from the e-commerce system and transferred to the receiver, theset-top box or gateway saves it locally until the television receiver isturned on again, and only then transfers it.

While the input devices 104, 134, 203, 223, the tracking devices 106,136, and the tracking buffers 204, 224 are presented in the embodimentsof FIGS. 1 and 2 as separate components, it will often be the case thatthese devices and buffers are realized by computer software, which isexecuted by some central processing unit. Thus, for instance, the inputdevice 134 may be a picture of a button drawn by the system 130, andwhen the user selects this button using a mouse or other selection aid,the system 130 determines the position on the screen 133 which wasselected, concludes that the picture of the button was selected, andexecutes the appropriate action to mark the content item being renderedas being of interest.

1. A method of identifying audio content, the method comprising: at amobile telephone, capturing an audio signal using a microphone of themobile telephone; identifying a system to receive the audio signal; andcommunicating the audio signal to the system to identify the audiosignal.
 2. The method of claim 1, which comprises establishing atelephone link between the mobile telephone and a base station, the basestation communicating the audio signal to the system which is configuredto identify the content of the audio signal.
 3. The method of claim 1,in which the audio signal is at least a portion of a song, the methodcomprising identifying at least one of a title and an artistcorresponding to the song.
 4. The method of claim 3, which comprisesreceiving identification information from the system in response tocommunicating the audio signal.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein theidentification information is received via at least one of a SMScommunication, an Instant Message communication, and an e-mailcommunication.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the system is ane-commerce system, the method comprising communicating the audio signalvia a network to the e-commerce system.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein identifying the system to receive the audio signal comprises:identifying a telephone number associated with the system to identifythe audio signal; and establishing a telephone link based on thetelephone number.
 8. A mobile telephone which comprises: a microphone toreceive an audio signal to be identified; a processor to identify asystem to receive the audio signal; and a transmitter to communicate theaudio signal to the system to identify the audio signal.
 9. The mobiletelephone of claim 8, wherein the transmitter is to establish atelephone link between the mobile telephone and a base station, the basestation being to communicate the audio signal to the system which isconfigured to identify the content of the audio signal.
 10. The mobiletelephone of claim 8, in which the audio signal is at least a portion ofa song, the processor being configured to identify at least one of atitle and an artist corresponding to the song.
 11. The mobile telephoneof claim 8, which comprises a receiver to receive identificationinformation from the system in response to communication of the audiosignal.
 12. The mobile telephone of claim 11, wherein the identificationinformation is receivable via one of a SMS communication, an InstantMessage communication, and an e-mail communication.
 13. The mobiletelephone of claim 8, wherein the system is an e-commerce system, thetransmitter configured to communicate the audio signal via a network tothe e-commerce system.
 14. The mobile telephone of claim 8, wherein theprocessor is configured to: identify a telephone number corresponding tothe system to identify the audio signal; and initiate a telephone linkbased on the telephone number.
 15. A computer-readable medium embodyinginstructions which, when executed on a mobile telephone, cause themobile telephone to: capture an audio signal to be identified using amicrophone of the mobile telephone; identify a system to receive theaudio signal; and communicate the audio signal to the system to identifythe audio signal.
 16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein atelephone link is established between the mobile telephone and a basestation and the base station communicates the audio signal to the systemwhich is configured to identify the content of the audio signal.
 17. Themachine-readable medium of claim 15, in which the audio signal is atleast a portion of a song, wherein at least one of a title and an artistcorresponding to the song is identified.
 18. The machine-readable mediumof claim 15, wherein identification information is received from thesystem in response to communication of the audio signal.
 19. Themachine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the identificationinformation is received via at least one of a SMS communication, anInstant Message communication, and an e-mail communication.
 20. Themachine-readable medium of claim 15, which causes the mobile telephoneto: identify a telephone number corresponding to the system to identifythe audio signal; and establish a telephone link based on the telephonenumber.
 21. A mobile telephone which comprises: means for capturing anaudio signal using a microphone of the mobile telephone; means foridentifying a system to receive the audio signal; and means forcommunicating the audio signal to the system to identify the audiosignal.
 22. A system to identify an audio signal, the system comprising:a receiver to receive a communication from at least one mobiletelephone, the communication including an audio signal; a communicationmodule to: communicate the audio signal to an audio identificationsystem to identify the audio signal; and receive identificationinformation that identifies the audio signal; and a transmitter totransmit the identification information to the mobile telephone.
 23. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the audio signal is a song and the systemcommunicated song-related information to the mobile telephone.
 24. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the transmitter is configured to communicatethe identification information via at least one of a SMS communication,an Instant Message communication, and an e-mail communication.